Annex: Glossary of terms
Apps — (abbreviation for 'application') a piece
of software that can run on a computer, a mobile device, or from
a web browser.
Bot — a computer that has been compromised
to serve the hacker's need without the user's knowledge.
Botnet — a networks of bots which can act together
to achieve a collective aim.
Browser — a web browser is a program used to
access the World Wide Web
Conversation threads — messages which are grouped
together (usually by subject), e.g. on an internet forum or by
an email client like outlook or gmail, as a visual aid to the
user.
Cookies — small data files generated by a website
and saved onto your computer when you first visit the website.
Their purpose is to identify you, so that the site can keep track
of your movements ; they may also store your personal data or
preferences. Some browsers allow users to delete specific cookies
or prevent cookies from being created, this allows the user a
higher level of privacy but could affect website functionality
on their computer as many websites are designed to require cookies
to function properly.
- Session cookies — temporary files that
are deleted when the browser is closed
- Persistent cookies — files designed to
store data for an extended period of time. Each persistent cookie
is created with an expiration date, once the expiration date is
reached, the cookie is automatically deleted. Persistent cookies
are what allow websites to "remember you" for two weeks,
one month, or any other amount of time.
Denial of Service (DoS) attack — an attack
on a computer system (typically a web server) which aims to make
the system unavailable by flooding it with internet traffic so
that it becomes overloaded and inoperable.
Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attack —
as above but carried out by a number of networked computers controlled
by one master (a botnet).
Domain Name System (DNS) — The Internet uses
the Domain Name System (DNS) to allow computers to identify each
other. To connect to the Internet, each computer requires a unique
numerical label called an IP address. IP addresses are matched
to memorable labels called domain names, stored in a global database.
For example, instead of typing the IP address 194.60.38.75, to
connect to the computer that hosts the parliamentary website,
the domain name www.parliament.uk is used.
Domain names generally follow the format www.xxxxx.yyy,
where:
.yyy is the top level domain, which can be a country
code such as '.uk' or a generic domain such as '.com' or '.org';
.xxxxx is the second level domain such as '.parliament',
'.co' or '.google';
additional subdomains, such as 'www.' can be used
to the left.
The DNS is coordinated to ensure addresses and domain
names are unique. Due to the number of names and addresses they
are stored on specialist computers.
Hosting / website hosting — Housing, serving
and maintaining files for websites. A Web Host provides
internet access through a system called a server. A Web Hosting
company may have many servers to hold many gigabytes of information.
This requires a fast connection to the internet and most hosting
companies offer fast connections which would be very expensive
for businesses to take out for their individual websites.
Internet Protocol (IP) — the method or protocol
by which data is sent from one computer to another on the Internet
IP address — see "Domain Name System"
Malware (malicious software) — A catch-all
term for software with malicious intent. The uses of malicious
software range from placing excessive demand on a computer's resources,
to destruction of data or even hardware. In some cases the user
is made aware of the presence of the malware, for example when
it sends a message to the user or deletes the contents of a hard
drive. Recent forms of malware may operate without the user's
knowledge, steal financial information such as credit card details,
or convert infected computers into an asset for the attacker.
Common types of malware work as follows:
- Viruses infect computers or other electronic
devices and are passed on by user activity, for example by opening
an email attachment.
- Worms self-propagate using an internet connection
to access vulnerabilities on other computers and to install copies
of themselves. They are often used as a conduit to grant attackers
access to the computer.
- Trojans are malware masquerading as something
the user may want to download or install, that may then perform
hidden or unexpected actions, such as allowing external access
to the computer.
- Spyware transmits information gathered from a
computer, such as bank details, back to an attacker. For example
'keylogging' software records anything entered using the keyboard,
such as passwords.
Phishing — Sending fraudulent emails to individuals
that claim to come from a legitimate source (e.g. internet retailer
or bank). The aim of these emails is to persuade the victim to
voluntarily disclose sensitive information such as bank account
and credit card details that can then be exploited to defraud
them.
Root-kit — software to gain and maintain privileged
access to computer systems; can be used to conceal other malware;
Trojan / Trojan Horse — Malicious software
programmes which are disguised as benign applications such as
computer games or antivirus software. Once installed on a system,
they can cause data theft and loss, as well as system crashes
or slowdowns. Trojans can also be used as launching points for
other attacks, such as distributed denial of service (DDoS). Many
Trojans are used to manipulate files on the victim computer, manage
processes, remotely run commands, intercept keystrokes, watch
screen images, and restart or shut down infected hosts. Unlike
viruses and worms, Trojans do not reproduce by infecting other
files nor do they self-replicate.
URL (Universal resource Locator) — formatted
text string used by Web browsers and other software to identify
a network resource on the Internet. Network resources are files
that can be plain Web pages, other text documents, graphics, or
programs. A URL consists of three parts: a network protocol, a
host name or address a file or resource location.
Virus — A computer virus attaches itself to
a program or file enabling it to spread from one computer to another,
leaving infections as it travels. Almost all viruses are attached
to an executable file, which means the virus may exist on your
computer but it actually cannot infect your computer unless you
run or open the malicious program. It is important to note that
a virus cannot be spread without a human action, (such as running
an infected program) to keep it going. Because a virus is spread
by human action people will unknowingly continue the spread of
a computer virus by sharing infecting files or sending emails
with viruses as attachments in the email.
Widgets — a "widget" is an application
that sits on top of a Web site and offers users additional interactive
features. There are four main types of Widget: (1) a widget engine
(such as dashboard apps like Apple's Mac OS X v10.4, Windows Vista
Sidebar, or Yahoo! Widgets), (2) GUI widgets (which are a component
of a graphical user interface in which the user interacts), (3)
Web widgets (which refer to a third party item that can be embedded
in a Web page), and (4) mobile widgets (a third party item that
can be embedded in a mobile phone).
Worms — A worm is similar to a virus by design
and is considered to be a sub-class of a virus. Worms spread from
computer to computer, but unlike a virus, it has the capability
to travel without any human action. A worm takes advantage of
file or information transport features on your system, which is
what allows it to travel unaided. The biggest danger with a worm
is its capability to replicate itself on your system, so rather
than your computer sending out a single worm, it could send out
hundreds or thousands of copies of itself, creating a huge devastating
effect. One example would be for a worm to send a copy of itself
to everyone listed in your e-mail address book. Then, the worm
replicates and sends itself out to everyone listed in each of
the receiver's address book, and the manifest continues on down
the line.
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